Started last year and originally set to be completed by Sunday, June 10, construction of Fort Worth's $9 million Golden Triangle Branch Library may take until January.

In a report to city council members Tuesday, City Manager David Cooke wrote that almost all of the delays in the construction process "are attributable to the contractor."

The city has previously agreed to extend Denco Construction Specialists' contract by 27 days, until July 7.

The report also says that city inspections found "less than quality work being performed on multiple occasions," resulting in some work having to be redone.

Project leader Joseph Martinez disputed that Denco was largely at fault in a statement, saying that much of the delay was caused by unforeseen conditions at the site on Golden Triangle Boulevard in north Fort Worth.

"The soil report said there was no water underneath our site and that there was no heavy rock, and yet we did encounter both," Martinez said. "Those have significant impacts on every aspect of construction that is underground as we continued to encounter water and very heavy rock, you have to use different equipment, heavy machinery, and it takes longer to complete those phases of construction."

After failing an inspection, Denco replaced the site superintendent and added a second on-site team member to give the project more support, Martinez said.

"We did fail once and have to have the work corrected, and that is part of what led us to replace the on-site personnel with someone who has more appropriate experience," he said.

The city does not plan to terminate Denco's contract, as finding a new contractor could delay the project further, and is instead hoping to work with Denco to "get the project back on track as much as possible,” according to the report.

Martinez said Denco will deliver on its commitment to Fort Worth.

"We believe that we are fully capable and have the resources to get this job completed to a high degree of quality, and we are committed to turning over a library that the city will be proud of," he said.